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Every year, NABJ pays homage to legendary black journalists who have made outstanding contributions to the industry.

On April 5, 1990, seven distinguished journalists became charter members of the NABJ Hall of Fame. Over the last 17 years, NABJ has inducted 35 journalists into the esteemed Hall of Fame.

Nominations are approved by the NABJ Board of Directors. New inductees are installed annually at the NABJ Hall of Fame Banquet and Inductions. The event is tentatively scheduled to take place in Washington, DC. We'll have more details.

Accepting a strong recommendation from the NABJ Hall of Fame Screening Committee, the Board of Directors voted in April 2004 to induct 10 historical journalism figures as a one-time measure. The committee's rationale was that any legitimate Hall of Fame of black journalists must include these legendary figures and that 2004 revival of the Hall of Fame was the appropriate time to include them.

Robert S. Abbott

founded the Chicago Defender, which helped create the Great Migration to the North.

Samuel E. Cornish

co-publisher, Freedoms Journal, the nation's first black newspaper.

Frederick Douglass

a former slave and the nation's most prominent abolitionist and the publisher of the North Star.

W.E.B. DuBois

a NAACP founder and creator and first editor of its magazine, The Crisis.

T. Thomas Fortune

one of the most prominent black journalists in the post-Civil War era.

Ethel Payne

First Lady of the Black Press, D.C. correspondent for Sengstacke Newspapers.

Marcus Garvey

journalist for Africa Times and Orient Review, publisher of Negro World.

John B. Russwurm

co-publisher, Freedoms Journal, the nation's first black newspaper.

John Sengstacke

founder of Michigan Chronicle and publisher of Chicago Defender and Pittsburgh Courier.

Ida B. Wells-Barnett

newspaper editor, crusader against segregation and lynching in United States.